The field of the invention relates to communication systems and, in particular, to communication systems having automatic call distributors.
Automatic call distribution systems are known. Such systems are typically used, for example, within private branch telephone exchanges as a means of distributing telephone calls among a group of agents. While the automatic call distributor may be a separate part of a private branch telephone exchange, often the automatic call distributor is integrated into and is an indistinguishable part of the private branch telephone exchange.
Often an organization disseminates a single telephone number to its customers and to the public in general as a means of contacting the organization. As calls are often directed to the organization from the public switch telephone network or other communication network (e.g. Internet), the automatic call distribution system directs the calls to its agents based upon some type of criteria. For example, where all agents are considered equal, the automatic call distributor may distribute the calls based upon which agent has been idle the longest. The agents that are operatively connected to the automatic call distributor may be live agents, and/or virtual agents. Typically, virtual agents are software routines and algorithms that are operatively connected and/or part of the automatic call distributor.
Automatic call distributors are utilized in communications handling centers, such as call centers, that forward incoming communications, such as telephone calls, or other contacts for processing by one of several associated call-handling agents. The term “call” refers herein to any suitable communications including but not limited to, voice-over-Internet protocol communications; electronic mail messages; facsimiles, chat room dialog, instant messages, other Internet contacts. An automatic call distributor is any system which performs the functions of automatically distributing calls to agents while typically maintaining records of the call processing, and may employ a wide variety of architecture made up of software and/or hardware including, for example, integrated centralized systems, distributed systems, systems using one or more personal computers or services, etc.
Telephone call centers, for example, are often used to dispatch emergency services, as telemarketing sales centers, as customer service centers, etc. to automatically distribute received calls. Each incoming call may have a number of handling requirements, depending on, for example, the nature of the call, the originating call area, and the language of the call. Agents, on the other hand, each have abilities to process calls having certain handling requirements. Typically, agents are able to process one or more call types. For example, agents are typically trained to process certain call subject matters and certain call languages.
In some known call centers, computerized automatic call distributors place incoming calls, of a particular type, requiring defined skills, in queues of like calls. Appropriate agents have skills necessary to process calls in the queues, and are assigned to such queues. Agents are often assigned to multiple queues, reflective of their particular handling skills. Typically, this is done to increase the handling capacity of the center by making improved use of available communications handling resources.
Quite often, agents may handle calls related to one or more subject areas, and possess varied attributes that are relevant to all subject areas they are capable of handling. For example, a call center agent may speak multiple languages, and may therefore be able to process calls relating to a particular subject matter in all these languages. One simple approach used to deal with multiple agent attributes is to create and administer individual queues, each of which takes into account the subject matter and the attributes of the agent. This, however, is administratively very cumbersome.
Other known call centers use agent-skill indicators, associated with agents in order to connect calls. In such centers, a call is connected to an agent having an agent-skill indicator matching that of the call, within a group of agents. Agents, however, are typically only assignable to only one, and typically only a single agent-skill indicator is used to connect the call. Disadvantageously, such call centers do not use agent attributes across different groups. This may lead to an inefficient utilization of call center resources. Moreover, these communications handling centers do not allow for easy administration and re-assignment of agents to queues, while maintaining agent skill-sets.
One concern in designing an automatic call distributor system is ensuring that calls are efficiently routed to an agent, so as to minimize the amount of time that any particular call is placed on hold. One basic technique of minimizing on-hold time is to employ a first-in/first-out call handling technique. The first-in/first-out technique requires that calls be routed to the next available agent in the order in which the calls are received. However, in some automatic call distributor systems the agents are specialized in handling particular types of calls, so the first-in/first-out technique is not appropriate. For example in a product support department of a software facility, agents might be grouped according to specialized expertise, so that a first group is knowledgeable in word processing, a second group is knowledgeable in a database program, and a third group is knowledgeable in a spreadsheet program. Utilizing a first-in/first-out technique in such a situation is inappropriate, because a caller with a question regarding the word processing program may be routed to an agent having specialized knowledge regarding the database program or the spreadsheet program, rather than being routed to an agent with specialized knowledge in the word processing program.
The focus in the management of calls has been upon maximizing availability to customers, so as to achieve an acceptable profit margin in a competitive environment of customer service. Call management approaches that increase revenue may lead to savings for customers.
Most present-day call-distribution algorithms focus on being “fair” to callers and to agents. This fairness is reflected by the standard first-in, first-out call to most-idle-agent assignment algorithm. Skills-based routing improves upon this basic algorithm in that it allows each agent to be slotted into a number of categories based on the agent's skill types and levels.
The primary objective of call-distribution algorithms is to ultimately maximize call center performance. That may involve minimizing cost, maximizing call throughput, and/or maximizing revenue, among others. For example, when a new call arrives, the call may be handled by an agent who either has the ability to produce the most revenue or can handle the call in the shortest amount of time. Also, when an agent becomes available to handle a new call, the agent may handle either the call that has the possibility of generating the most revenue or the call that the agent is most efficient in handling.
Automatic call distributors are often used in the field of telemarketing, which is one of the fastest growing areas of commerce. While some telemarketing calls are informative and well-focused, other calls are viewed as tedious and unwelcome. Often the perception of the telemarketer by the customer is based upon the skill and training of the telemarketer.
In order to maximize the performance of telemarketers, telemarketing organizations usual require telemarketers to follow a predetermined format during presentations. A prepared script is usually given to each telemarketer and the telemarketer is encouraged to closely follow the script during each call. Such scripts are usually based upon expected customer responses and typically follow a predictable story line. Typically, such scripts begin with the telemarketer identifying himself and explaining the reasons for the call. The script will then usually begin with an explanation of the product and the reasons why consumers should wish to have the product. Finally, the script may complete the presentation with an inquiry of whether the customer wants to purchase the product.
While such prepared scripts are sometimes effective, they are often ineffective where a customer asks unexpected questions or where the customer is in a hurry and wishes to complete the conversation as soon as possible. In these cases, a telemarketer will often become flustered or lose track of where he is in the story line. Often a call, which could have resulted in a sale, will result in no sale, and more importantly, an irritated customer. Because of the importance of telemarketing, a need exists for a better method of preparing and training telemarketers. Current autoquality sytems record voice and/or data screens associated with a transaction and allow both the agent and supervisor to review for quality of transaction, they do not allow simulation of the completed transaction with different choice selections that result in different outcomes. Without the simulation of new results based on best practices the agent never has the opportunity to adapt new techniques that increase their ability to improve their performance except in a “live transaction” mode. The ability to simulate multiple decision paths with predicted results allow the contact center agent to practice best methods in a controlled environment.